L ORANTHA CEAE 
449 
plete by the second evening when the next crop of buds is opening. 
At the same time the fir. has changed from white to yellow in colour. 
The length of the tube prevents any but very long-tongued insects 
from obtaining honey. 
Lopszia Cav. Onagraceae (vn). 12 sp. Cent. Am. The flr. is zygo- 
morphic. The two upper petals are bent upwards a little way from 
their base, and at the bend there seems to be a drop of honey. In 
reality this is a dry glossy piece of hard tissue; like the similar 
bodies in Parnassia it deceives flies. There are real nectaries however 
at the base of the flr. There are two sta., of which the posterior only 
is fertile ; it is enclosed at first in the anterior one, which is a spoon- 
shaped petaloid staminode. In the early stage of the flr., while the 
style is still quite short and undeveloped, insects alight on the sta., 
later the style grows out into the place at first occupied by the sta., 
which now bends upwards out of the way. Self-fertilisation seems 
almost impossible. In Z. coronata Andr. and other sp. there is an 
upward tension in the sta., a downward in the staminode, and an 
explosion occurs when an insect alights. 
Lophophytum Schott et Endl. Balanophoraceae. 4 sp. trop. S. Am. 
Loranthaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Santalales). 21 gen., 520 sp. 
An extremely interesting order of parasitic plants, possessing green 
leaves (p. 176). The only genus in Brit, is Viscum, the mistletoe, but 
many others are found in the Tropics. 
They are mostly semi-parasitic shrubs, attached to their host-plants 
by means of suckers or haustoria — usually regarded as modified 
adventitious roots. The stem is sympodial, often dichasial (e.g. 
Viscum), the leaves usually evergreen and of leathery texture. The 
infl. is cymose, the firs, usually occurring in little groups of 3 (or 2, 
by abortion of the central flr.). In cases where the firs, possess a 
stalk, the bract is united to this as far as the origin of the next branch 
(for details see Viscum and Loranthus). The receptacle is hollowed out, 
and the perianth springs from its margin. In the Loranthoideae there 
is below the perianth an outgrowth of the axis in the form of a small 
fringe — the calyculus — about whose morphology there has been some 
discussion. The perianth may be either sepaloid or petaloid. Firs, 
g or unisexual. Sta. as many as, and (as in Proteaceae) united with, 
the perianth-leaves. The pollen is often developed in a great number 
of loculi, separate from one another, though often becoming con- 
tinuous when mature. Ovary i-loc., sunk in, and united with, the 
receptacle, the ovules not differentiated from the placenta. Embryo- 
sacs more than one, curiously lengthened (cf. Casuarina). The fruit 
is a pseudo-berry or -drupe, the fleshy part being really the receptacle. 
Round the seed is a layer of viscin, a very sticky substance. [For full 
details of the many interesting features of this order, the infl., flr., 
pollen, development and structure of ovule and embryo-sac, fruit, 
seed, germination, haustoria, &c., see Engler in Nat . PJi . and papers 
\Y. 29 
